Welcome to Our Town - Danville, Virginia 2011

Page 161

Offering numerous opportunities for students to excel in academics, athletics, and the arts is critical for Danville Public Schools. We provide an extensive array of choices from year-round school schedules, opt-in opportunities for out-ofzone students, to International Baccalaureate programs. Purposeful learning starts early with Grove Park Preschool providing a comprehensive program including pre-reading and mathematics instruction, music, physical activities, and art. Grove Park serves two-year-old, threeyear-old, and four-year-old students. The vast majority of these little ones enter kindergarten ready to learn. All elementary schools have talent development and academically gifted programs, art, music, and extra-curricular activities including community service events. Five elementary schools have foreign language instruction. Woodrow Wilson Elementary School made the Governor’s VIP Excellence in Education list for the past three years and was recognized as a Title One Distinguished School. Forest Hills Elementary School made the VIP list for the past three years on the Governor’s and the State Board of Education’s lists. I. W. Taylor Elementary School was recognized as a Title One Distinguished School and made the VIP Competence to Excellence list. All of our elementary schools are fully state SOL accredited.

Our middle schools offer advanced academic classes, eight sports programs, foreign language instruction (French, Spanish, and Latin), First Lego League and robotics classes, visual arts, talent development, and academically gifted classes. The National Junior Honor Society inducts students annually and recognizes their academic achievement. A strong music program consisting of band, orchestra, and chorus involves students who matriculate to the secondary level. All middle schools are fully state SOL accredited. Our secondary schools continue an abundance of choices from a comprehensive program at George Washington High School to an International Baccalaureate Program at Galileo Magnet High School, along with optional enrollment in the Piedmont Governor’s School for Math, Science, and Technology. Students can take college level courses, and 388 or 24 percent took advantage of these classes. This percentage increased from 378 or 19.3 percent last year. Secondary students can also earn an

associate’s degree. Three Danville Public School students earned both an advanced high school diploma and an associate’s degree at the conclusion of the 2009-10 school year. In addition, we offer an alternative sixth through twelfth grade school setting at Langston Focus School which achieved the No Child Left Behind standards for Adequate Yearly Progress for the past two years. Our arts programs annually receive superior ratings at numerous competitions, and our athletes are recognized regionally, state-wide, and nationally for talent and expertise. George Washington High School ranked in the top 10 for the past 6 years in the Virginia High School League’s state-wide Wachovia Cup Competition. Publications such as Euantes and Cavalier win first place awards each year with the Virginia High School League, the National Scholastic Press Association, and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Galileo made the Newsweek list of the top 1500 schools in the nation for the past four years and the U.S. News and World Report list for the past three years. These national recognitions are noteworthy for our school division and the city of Danville. George Washington High School and Galileo Magnet High School are fully state SOL accredited. To complete the loop of the comprehensive services provided by Danville Public Schools, our adult and career education program graduated the highest number ever with 249 GED’s and 3 adult high school. This program

Danville & Pittsylvania County, Virginia | Welcome to Our Town 2011 161


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.